2025 was shaping up to look like an LME free-for-all with creditor-on-creditor violence galore. Then the Fifth Circuit tossed the market a curveball and effectively crushed the liberal definition of “open market purchase” by overturning former Judge David R. Jones’ debtor-friendly Serta Simmons ruling.

That was followed by an inverse result in the Mitel state court case effectively blessing the aggressive LME that took place there.

With the outlook for 2025 growing less certain by the moment, 9fin spoke to various restructuring professionals and distressed debt investors to parse what’s come before and what could come next.